You Are My Sunshine
by Shizume Rikka
Summary: Despite Nagisa wanting to recruit Rei on the swim team. Both of them start to develop romantic feelings for each other, but they kept it at that. "Let's keep it to flirting, ne ?" Rei starts to realize that Nagisa doesn't go to swimming practice. And to top it off, Nagisa is usually nowhere to be found at practice. Rei finally has the courage to confront the club about this.
1. Recruit

**_(Nagisa's POV)_**

"EHHH?! What do you mean we need another member for the swim club?!" I ask in horror.

"Ah... y-yea... Just ask Amakata-sensei for the details," Mako-chan says in distress.

Meanwhile, Haru-chan abruptly stands up from his seat and rushes out of the classroom. Mako-chan and I follow him from behind. Haru-chan starts barging into other people's conversations asking if they want to join the swimming team. I act like I don't know him as Mako-chan rushes over to apologize in Haru-chan's stead.

I'm actually pretty happy that we need one more person on the swim team. I've kept my eye on someone that I think will fit the bill. Ryugazaki Rei, a member of the track club. I see him jogging to school in the morning while I took the train. In fact, I knew about Ryugazaki-san since middle school, well, he didn't know I existed though. _But not to worry! I'll definitely recruit him!_

I secretly watch Ryugazaki-san practicing by himself in the track club. _Such a magnificent figure!_ I get all thrilled watching him practice that I decided to tell Mako-chan and Haru-chan the good news.

"Mako-chan! Where's Haru-chan?" I wave at him.

"He's right behind me, what's up?"

"I found the right guy for our swim team!" I pump my fist up in the air.

"Really, then let's go meet him, right Haru-" Mako-chan looks over at Haru-chan, "Geez, Haru your tie is all crooked." Mako-chan fixes up Haru-chan's tie.

"Darling," I say out loud.

"Pardon?" Mako-chan gives me a weird look.

"Darling! As in _'darling your tie is all crooked!'_ You guys look like a married old couple!" I laugh as Mako-chan starts to blush.

"H-Haru! Say something!" Mako-chan pleaded out.

"Darling?" Haru-chan says with no shame.

"Geez! L-Let's just go!" Mako-chan crossed his arms.

As I guided them to the field outside, we managed to meet up with Gou.

"Gou!-" I get cut off.

"It's Kou!" She corrects me.

"You wanna meet the new member of the team?" I ignore her last comment.

Gou nods and begins to follow us. We finally made it to where Ryugazaki-san was training. We all watch him intently as he went for his turn.

"See! What did I tell you?!" I brag.

"How are you friends with someone from the track team?" Mako-chan questioned me.

"I'm not," I say in the most simplest terms.

"Wh-What!?" Everyone stares at me, wide-eyed.

"S-Stalker?" Gou asks, looking a bit disgusted.

"I-I AM NO STALKER!" I say in perfectly spoken English, "W-Well, maybe I did follow him throughout middle school, but that's all!" I admitted.

"So, how are we supposed to recruit him?" Mako-chan asks with no more hope in his voice.

"Easy, with this charm," Haru-chan takes out the official Iwatobi swim club charm.

"We're supposed to recruit him, not scare him off," Gou puts her hands on her hips.

I ignore their arguing and go to the field close enough so Ryugazaki-san could hear me.

I cup my hands together on my mouth and shout, "Ryugazaki-san!"

He looks at me and I suddenly forget the words that I was supposed to say. I start to get all flustered. I look at my friends for help, obviously, they were no help.

I start to cheer for him,"Uh... ah... Go! Go! Rei-chan!"

"H-How did you possibly think that would work?" Gou asks, trying not to laugh.

We were walking back to class after we got kicked out of the field. I was still blushing from the embarrassment.

"Grr... I'll surely get him next time!" I declared.

Every time I tried to call out to him, Rei-chan would always ignore me. I soon realized that I addressed him by 'Rei-chan' without his consent. _If all else fails today, I'll just have to jog with him tomorrow morning!_

 ** _(Rei's POV)_**

I bend down to tie my loosened laces and from the distance, I heard my name being called out.

"Rei-chan! Reiiii!"

 _Geh, it's that idiot from yesterday! I'll never forget how he humiliated me from my fellow members._ I figured out his name just for future reference, and a bit of information. Hazuki Nagisa, a year older than me, but he acts like a child. Hmm, I won't get rid of him if I keep on ignoring him. _Guess I'll engage in discussion._

I turn around and wait for him to finally catch up to me, "Hazuki... senpai."

"Oh please! Just call me Nagisa, and drop the 'senpai' thingy!" He shakes his head.

"N-Nagisa-kun... what is it?"

"Join the swim team!"

And with that, I continued to jog.

"W-Wait up Rei-chan!" He hugs onto my leg.

"What?!" I said in an annoyed tone.

"Please!" Nagisa-kun begged in a more serious tone.

"State your reason, and get off my leg!"

He stands up and looks at me in the eyes, "If you don't join... "

I gulped.

"...THE ALIENS WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"

Agitated, I pinch his cheeks at maximum strength.

"A-Ah! Rei-chan, g-go gentler!" Nagisa-kun tried to act all cutesy.

"This talk is officially over," I turn to leave.

"Then can you at least tell me why you won't join?" Nagisa rubs his cheeks.

"Because I'm in the track team, a-and I can't swim..." I confess, a bit humiliated.

"Then I'll teach you to swim!" Nagisa-kun points at himself.

"Before that, why did you ask _me_ to join?" I ask with curiosity.

"This might be embarrassing to say, but when you were pole dancing-! I mean stripping-! I-I mean vaulting!" Nagisa-kun staggered.

His stuttering almost made me lose interest in this conversation, no- it wasn't the stuttering, it was the comments on the pole vault!

"I thought you looked really beautiful." Nagisa-kun smiled, "Y-Your jump I mean! You have such an elegant figure, and an insane body physique."

I start to turn red, there's really no way to turn down his offer, "If I learn how to swim in 2 weeks, then I'll join."

"Hooray!" Nagisa-kun jumped in joy.

"I said _if_!" I crossed my arms

 ** _(Nagisa's POV)_**

"Guys! I have great news!" I gathered the swimming club together, "Rei-chan agreed to join the swim team if I can teach him how to swim in 2 weeks time!"

They gave me an unsure smile.

Mako-chan was the first to speak up, "But Nagisa, your-"

"It's fine as long as my feet touch the ground," I assured him.

"But what happens when Ryugazaki-san finds out?" Amakata-sensei questioned.

"Then it'll be _my_ responsibility," I faced her.

Gou sways around, it was a pretty awkward situation, "We just don't want you to force yourself-"

"I'm not," I stated.

Even Haru-chan spoke, "We can find someone other than Ryugazaki-"

I butted in, "No! It has to be _Rei-chan_ , no matter what!"


	2. Beach

**(Rei's POV)**

"Nagisa-kun? Where are you?" I hollered, half naked in the swimming pool.

I already went in the swimming pool so I wouldn't be freezing cold, but for God's sake, I was wearing a speedo. Talk about revealing!

"Haruka-senpai!" I shouted, "Where's Nagisa-kun?"

Haruka-senpai was about to say something until I heard footsteps coming this way.

"Riiiight here!" Nagisa-kun puts his hands on his hips.

"Well then, let's start the training," I gestured him to come over.

Nasiga-kun stared at the water, empty minded.

"Are you going in?" I ask, a bit concerned.

"Of course!" Nagisa-kun laughs.

 **(Nagisa's POV)**

 _D-Don't worry! As long as my feet touch the ground, I'll be fine._ I walk to the side of the swimming pool like a robot and dipped my feet in.

"Ohh!" I pretended to shiver, "Cold!"

Rei-chan suddenly pulls me in and I go underwater. I was panicking, I tried to get my feet to touch the floor, but slip. I suddenly rise up from the water and I realized that everyone around me stopped doing what they were doing and all stared at me.

Everyone except Rei-chan looked at me with the same over-caring look on their face, they were afraid of my reaction. But I can't act scared in front of Rei-chan. Not now!

I playfully pushed Rei-chan and laughed, "Idiot! What was that for?"

"This is what you get for being late," He flicks my forehead.

"No fair!" I whined.

Everyone started to resume what they were doing, pretending like nothing serious happened.

I take a deep breath, "Ok! Let's start!"

"Rei-chan I'm going to go now!" I said after I finished changing into my uniform.

"Alright!" He shouts from the shower room.

 **(Rei's POV)**

 _That was weird, Nagisa-kun acted a bit differently when he went in the water, maybe I'm just over thinking this. Yup, that's got to be it!_

I get out of the shower room and get dressed. I was the last club member in here.

 _Well, time to go home._

I open my door and see Nagisa-kun sitting on his knees at the entrance.

"Welcome home dear!" He pretends to blow a kiss. "Do you want dinner? Or how about-" I pinched his cheeks.

"Shut it! How did you get in here?" I interrogated him.

"Hiding a spare key under the door mat is so cliché," He pulls out my spare key from his pocket.

"Give me that!" I snatched it away from him, "What do you want?"

"I'm here for a sleepover!" He says all excitedly.

"Why?"

"To strengthen our bond!"

I was in no shape to argue about this, "Knock yourself out," I sigh.

"Rei-chan! Rei-chan my darling!" Nagisa-kun says from the living room.

"What?!" I sort of blush from my mixed feelings about this situation.

"I'm hungry! Make something!" He goes up to me.

"All I have are frozen food, nothing from scratch," I point at my fridge.

"Alright! Time to go to the convenience store!" Nagisa-kun loosely puts on his shoes.

"But it's like 11 P.M. already," I tried to make an excuse.

"It's not like we have school tomorrow or anything, besides, I chose this day specifically so I can sleepover," He walks out the door.

I run up to him and grab his arm.

"Then I'm going too," I slip on my sandals.

"Why?" He turns around to look at me.

"I'm not letting you go alone," I protested.

"My my!" Nagisa-kun puts his hands on his cheeks, "My husband is so protective!"

We bought some cupped noodles and a popsicle stick or two. I insisted on walking down the beach route to go back to my house instead of the normal way.

As we were walking I noticed that Nagisa-kun was gazing at the beach. But he wasn't the cheery Nagisa that I know, he had a more saddened expression when he looked at the beach. I decided to ask him a question that I wish I could take back the second it came out of my mouth.

"Do you like the beach?" I asked.

Nagisa-kun looked at me and smiled, "Yeah, I do."

His words may be saying 'Yes,' but his eyes were saying 'No.'

"Nagisa," I called out, "I'm going to sleep now, just close the lights when you're going to sleep."

"But why can't I sleep in your room?" Nagisa-kun complains.

"Just sleep in the living room I sigh, I'll leave my door open if it means that much to you."

He begins to pout, "Fine!"

I wake up to the movement of a hand brushing past my face. As I opened my eyes. I realized that Nagisa is sleeping beside me. I was facing the wall, but even though, I still knew it was Nagisa behind me. He had his leg and arm around me. I started to turn red.

"Na-Nagisa-senpai!" My voice started to crack.

"Mm?" He rubs his eyes, "What's up Rei-chan?"

"What are you doing sleeping in here?" I try to shake him off but he only hugs me tighter.

"Get off!" I wiggle around until I was facing him.

Nagisa-kun stares at me with surprise, but smirks afterwards.

"Nope!" He nuzzled my cheek.

I was flushed in red.

 **(Nagisa's POV)**

I finally let go of him and went off of his bed.

I try to hold in my laughter, "Seeing Rei-chan flustered is probably the best thing ever!"

"Don't laugh!" Rei tried to regain his composure.

"Hmm, your eggs lack excitement," I criticized.

"They don't need excitement," Rei-chan defended the eggs.

I finished eating breakfast and stood up.

"Well I'm going to walk," I put my dish away, "Wanna come?"

"No thank you, on a different note, where are you going?" He questioned me.

"To the beach," I start to tie on my shoes.

"Why the beach?"

I answered his question a bit more serious than the other ones, "Because if I don't, I'm going to regret it sooner or later. And I need to visit some people."

I open the door, but was abruptly stopped by Rei-chan.

"Hold up, I'm coming too!" He fixes his hair and puts on his sandals.

"Geez Rei, one second you reject me, and the other second, you act like this is the biggest deal in the entire planet." I shake my head in disappointment.

"Well, soooorry!" He exaggerated.

We walk along the beach, creating footprints in the sand. I stop in the dead centre of the beach and close my eyes. I hear the waves crashing down and seagulls fighting in the air. But no matter how many times I try to take a whiff of the seawater, I just find myself disturbed. I could never relax here. _It's too..._

"Hey," Rei-chan breaks the silence.

"What is it?" I ask, still closing my eyes.

"Who are you visiting?" He asks.

I open my eyes and look at the sea, trying to find something beyond it. I was desperate.

"My parents."


	3. Why?

**_(Rei's POV)_**

"P-Parents?" I think I just stepped on a landmine.

"Yeah, they're overseas, but they don't take the time off to visit their one and only child," Nagisa shrugs.

"Oh," I said silently.

"Thankfully Rei-chan's here!" He pats me on the back.

"What for?" I adjust my crooked glasses.

"It gets lonely when I'm by myself at my house."

"I see..." I let my voice trail off.

There was one word that I'm stuck on. _Lonely._ Out of all people, Nagisa can say the word lonely. He was the least expected person to say that. Even if he was the only person in the world, Nagisa wouldn't think he was lonely. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It looks like I don't know him that well either.

 ** _(Nagisa's POV)_**

I glance over at Rei-chan, he's looking a bit out of it. _Hmmm, how should I cheer him up? Oh wait, is he even sad? Arrgh! Ice cream fixes everything!_

"Rei-chan!" I practically shouted.

"Y-Yes?" He asks, a bit surprised.

"Let's get ice cream!" I point at the little shop near us.

"Isn't it a bit too early?" He scratches his head.

"We just had breakfast! And it's never too early for ice cream!" I exclaimed.

"Fine..." Rei-chan sighs.

I get a mix of the 5 flavors they served and Rei-chan got vanilla.

"You're as plain as your ice cream!" I start to laugh.

"I am not plain!" He says in defense.

"You wanna bite?" I held the ice cream close to his face.

"No thank you!" Rei-chan looks away.

 ** _(Rei's POV)_**

After walking Nagisa home I go back to my house and skim through video tutorials on how to swim. By evening, I mentally thought I could swim, but physically, I couldn't. _Not yet._ I'm not even sure if I'm ever going to swim, but if it's Nagisa-kun then maybe.

I didn't quit the track club yet, but right now I'm going through the resignation form. I'm getting ahead of myself, it's like I'm already a member of their swim team. I'm pretty sure Nagisa will pester me if I decided to do track instead of swimming. I laugh at Nagisa-kun's reaction.

I sure think about Nagisa a lot. Probably because he's been popping up recently. Now that I think about it, Nagisa looks pretty familiar. I'm sure I've seen him somewhere before.

I open up my year book and search for Hazuki Nagisa. _I found it!_ I look at his picture He looks so small, I try not to laugh. He probably doesn't even know that I went to same middle school as him.

 ** _(Nagisa's POV)_**

Little by little, Rei-chan improved. We tried different swimming styles, but it looks like he was best with the Butterfly. _You can do it Rei!_

After a dreaded week of _swimming_ in water and constantly reminding myself that it's all for Rei-chan, we finally made it.

"You can finally swim!" I resisted the temptation of hugging him. Rei-chan doesn't like body contact with other people, the only time he allows it is when I was teaching him.

"Nagisa... Senpai!" He starts to tear up.

"Geez, drop the senpai thingy. And save that face for when you graduate high school or something-" I was interrupted by Rei-chan as he hugged me.

"H-Hey!" My face felt warm.

"He couldn't do it without you!" Mako-chan puts his hand on my shoulder, "And to think Nagisa was reliable all along," He starts to cry.

"Not you too!" I whine at Mako-chan.

I look at Haru-chan for help. All he does is give me a silent thumbs up. _Ugh!_ Well, Rei-chan doesn't do this often so I'm not passing up this opportunity.

I hug him back. With a bit of hidden _feelings_ behind it.

 **A Few Months Later:**

 ** _(Rei's POV)_**

 _I improved my time again! Another record set._

"Nagisa look-"

 _Haaaah... When was the last time Nagisa looked at my finishing time. The first week I joined the team? Most likely._

Nagisa barely comes to practice anymore. He's usually missing when I try to pick him up after school to go to club. I think of the possibilities of why he's not attending practice. And it looks like Haruka-senpai and Makoto-senpai don't seem bothered by it. It's like Nagisa has a free hall pass or something.

From the last 4 months, Nagisa attended practice twice. _Twice!_ I don't think that Nagisa is some prodigy who can skip out anytime he likes. We hang out on weekends and stuff so it's not like we're strangers. I think our bond is strong and we both trust each other completely. I may even like him more than a friend. And Nagisa-kun and I are both positive that our feelings are mutual.

But all he says is, "Let's keep it to _flirting_ ne~?"

So if we have a tight friendship, then why doesn't he ever tell me what's going on? He doesn't talk about his life as much as I do. And I was kind of hoping that he would open up to me, but it's been 4 months.

In all honesty, I'm worried about him. But what I'm more scared about is if he'll even tell me what's going on.

 ** _(Nagisa's POV)_**

I'm meeting Rei-chan at the cafe today. He suddenly asked me to meet up with him. I wonder if something's bothering him. I hear the entrance bell jingle and I look up. It was Rei-chan, he was looking around. I wave my hand up and he notices me. He walks over and takes a seat.

"Hey sweet thing!" I flirtatiously winked at him.

"Not again!" He shakes his head.

"Well how about this? If I was water, then I'd make you wet-"

"Please stop!" Rei-chan blushes.

"Pffft," I quietly laugh.

The waitress comes up and we act like nothing was happening.

"I'll have iced coffee and some brownies," I ordered.

The waitress writes it in her notepad and looks at Rei-chan, "And for you?"

"Just water please," He nods.

The waitress takes her leave and I look at Rei-chan.

"So what's up? It's unusual for you to _just_ get water." I start off.

"Ahh, yeah, but besides that, I-I've been meaning to ask you something." He avoids eye contact.

"Ask ahead."

"Why are you always missing at practice? Wait let me rephrase that. Why aren't you coming to practice?"

 ** _(Rei's POV)_**

Nagisa-kun sigh, "Anything but that?"

"But why?"

"It's nothing important."

"Can't you tell me anything?" I was starting to pester him.

"There's nothing worth to tell."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't tell you..." Nagisa-kun gives me a pained smile.

"Nagisa if you ever need to talk then just-"

"There's nothing to talk about!" He raises his voice.

Everyone looks at us. After a few seconds, they went back to what they were doing.

"I just... can't." Nagisa-kun takes out some cash and puts it on the table. He stands up and starts to exit the cafe, "Just take my order ok?"

I lay on my bed and rewind what happened today in my head. The fact that Nagisa-kun won't talk to me about his situation, _was his trust in me that shallow?_

 _It kinda hurts._


End file.
